This Former Ford Plant/Museum Is Now a Sprawling Art Hotel

Beats the hell out of Ben Stiller's ‘Night at the Museum’

By Alex Lauer

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07 November 2016

We could never sincerely recommend Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum.

What we can recommend is a night at this museum.

21c Museum Hotels, a company that creates spaces that are “museum first and hotel second,” has opened its sixth destination, this time in Oklahoma City. While they’ve been crafting art-focused accommodations since 2016 in cities like Durham, NC, and Louisville, KY, this location is their first industrial undertaking.

Industrial as in: the building, constructed back in 1916, once housed a Ford Motor Company assembly plant and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. You’ll find remnants of this past life throughout the 135 rooms, art galleries and common spaces — including high ceilings, freight doors and terrazzo flooring from the original Ford showroom. They stop short of supplying ghosts that assemble Model Ts in the middle of the night.

If a history lesson makes you want to check on the turndown service, the hotel also offers two contemporary art exhibitions every year in their 14,000 square feet of gallery space. While those could easily eat up an entire day, make sure to save energy for the large-scale installations, like SuttonBeresCuller’s giant arrows bursting through the upper floors and pieces by artist and 21c founder Laura Lee Brown in your room.

If you find yourself simply passing through Oklahoma City, swing by anyway. Their galleries are free and open to the public.

We recommend their other experimental lodgings as well, whether you’re planning a weekend in Cincinnati or Louisville.